Curing a Sick Society

CURING A SICK SOCIETY

The De-Christianization of America

A Sermon Given at Liberty Presbyterian Church

Copyright 19 November 2000 by E.T. McMullen

In WWI, U.S. servicemen were given a pocket New Testament with a message from General Pershing. His message begins: "To the American soldier aroused against a nation waging war in violation of all Christian principles." (See Appendix I for the full text.) I don't know Pershing's personal motivation for saying that Germany was violating all Christian principles, but he had plenty of reasons. The biggest one was the non-Christian idea of German racial superiority.

In 1917, a Stanford University biologist, Vernon Kellogg, published a book, Headquarters Nights. This book was the result of conversations he had with members of the German military high command while headquartered in Belgium. These officers thought Germans (Aryans) were a superior race and it was their duty to civilization to prevail in war. Charles Darwin had written that some races were superior to the others. This idea that whites were the superior race permeated intellectual, biological, and scientific circles. In Germany, Houston Steward Chamberlain, an Englishman that "went native" and Ernst Haekel, a scientist, promoted the idea that, among whites, the German (or Aryan) race was superior. Germans bought into this idea, especially since it appeared to be scientific and based on nature's laws.

Darwin had also described how, in the struggle for existence, ant colonies killed and enslaved other ants. The Germans bought into that, too. War was a struggle for survival and the fittest would survive. Kellogg reports that the Germans thought they were the fittest and that there was nothing wrong with killing and enslaving others. Just like the ants. It was nature's way and we are part of nature. Kellogg didn't accept their conclusions, but he, too, had bought into the idea that we are here because of the survival of the fittest and chance mutations. So he had no answer to the German reasoning. But Pershing had an answer. These ideas and evolution violate Christian principles, and our country and its laws were based on them.

Adolf Hitler was strongly influenced by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Hitler mentions him in Mein Kampf, a book which is permeated by the need for struggle and the idea that the Germans are the "genius" race. Hitler put these ideas into action when he became the leader of Germany. And he did it all legally, by the way.

Hitler also had plans for a state church. This National Reich Church would do away with the Bible and the Cross in all churches, replacing them with Mein Kampf and the swastika. Religiously, he wanted to take Germany back to pre-Christian times. This plan was published in The New York Times in 1942.

Our leaders knew all this. In WWII, pocket New Testaments had a message from Franklin D. Roosevelt "commending the reading of the Bible" and calling it a "Sacred Book." (See Appendix II for the full text.) Roosevelt's D-day prayer begins "Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity." (The emphasis is mine. See Appendix III for the full text.) By the Grace of God we stopped Hitler, but did we stop his unchristian thinking? The answer is no.

Since WWII there has been an increasing secularization and de-Christianization of U.S. society. One measure of this trend is shown by court decisions. The first article in the Bill of Rights to the Constitution says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (This is the "Establishment" clause.) In 1947, the Supreme Court ruled that this ban on the federal government making laws concerning religion also applied to the states. Based on the 1947 ruling, the Court ruled in 1948 that religious instruction could not be given in public schools. The Court said "the First Amendment rests upon the premise that both religion and government can best work achieve their lofty aims if each is left free from the other within its respective sphere. Or, as we said in the Everson case, the First Amendment had erected a wall of separation between Church and State which must be kept high and impregnable."

There had been no new constitutional amendment concerning the "Establishment" clause of the Constitution. Rather, the Court had introduced a new interpretation. Traditionally, this clause banned an American national church, such as the Anglican Church in England, or the National Reich Church in Germany, but this obvious application was circumvented after WWII.Using this new interpretation, the Court outlawed prayer in schools (1962), and then the reading of Bible verses and The Lord's Prayer (1963). In many different legal actions in various places, the American Civil Liberties Union used this Supreme Court precedent to push Christianity out of public life. That is why there was no President's or General's message in the Vietnam War New Testaments.

Earlier this month, U.S. Marshals, under court order, seized the fifty-year-old Indianapolis Baptist Temple for failing to withhold income taxes and Social Security contributions from their employees' pay. This is the first known case in the United States of church confiscation by the government. So much for the high and impregnable wall of separation between Church and State. We have come a long way from what our country was founded on. The back of the WWII Victory Medal lists four reasons why we fought Hitler. One is freedom of religion. But here we have a church that refused to recognize state control over religion. The church employees paid their taxes and Social Security, but not the church. In effect, the government made and enforced a law against churches, in spite of the Court's earlier ruling that church and state be left "free from the other within its respective sphere." The courts are establishing control over the churches in the United States, which is what Hitler did in Nazi Germany.

The gap in our society created by these court decisions has been filled by the idea that humans originated by chance, and therefore there are no absolutes. As a result, many accept that ethics are situational; that truth is relative; and that life appears to have no meaning. In the arts, the theater of the absurd, the music of John Cage, and the art of Jackson Pollock reflect the lack of any absolutes, and promote the idea of human evolution by chance. One example of the Theater of the Absurd is Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1952). It is readily apparent that the action on the stage is not realistic. Two men wait incessantly for the appearance of someone, with whom they may or may not have an appointment. During the course of the play, nothing seems to be happening. Now I would never make it as a professional actor, but I certainly could "act" in this kind of play. One of Cage's compositions is 4' 33' (four Minutes, 33 Seconds), in which the solo piano player plays nothing. I would fail as a professional musician, but I certainly could succeed "playing" Cage's pieces. Pollock "paints" by throwing the paint all around. He puts his canvases on the ground to make it easier for him, and gets the paint on his shoes and everywhere else. I would starve as a professional artist, but I can paint as well as Pollock does.

In science, the American Civil Liberties Union has also used the courts to overturn laws against teaching that humans evolved, or that teaching about evolution should have equal time with teaching about creation. As you know from other talks that I have given, there is no evidence whatsoever that we descended from a common ancestor and that there is plenty of evidence for creation. Evolution is a just-so story, made up to explain why we are here and why we are like we are. An example of a "just so" story is Charles Darwin's explanation as to why we are hairless compared to other animals, especially primates. He argued in Descent of Man (1871), that our ancestral females preferred mates with less hair. Thus, over time our hairy ancestors were bred out. Now this is good news for bald men everywhere, but it is not good science. There is not a shred of evidence to support Darwin's idea. It is a just-so story, carried on, not by evidence, but by naturalistic belief. The same is true for evolution. There is no evidence for descent from a common ancestor. It is driven by an anti-God attitude.

In politics, we have seen habitual lying, adultery, and lawbreaking, because there is no "controlling legal authority." Also, we saw perjury committed, and regular character assassination, which unfortunately, much of the media happily went along with. This character assassination is happening right now in Florida. Bud Stone knows Kathy Harris, the Florida Secretary of State, and tells me she is a fine person. She is an elected official trying to enforce a law, but is being attacked by these character assassins. These attackers are not interested in the law, fairness, democracy, or the nation. They show the sad shape our country is in and the sickness of our society.

Exit polls and statistics from the November seventh vote show that the country is just about evenly divided between Christian-based values, and variable manmade rules. If the economy were the issue, Al Gore would have won in a landslide. As it is, the country is on the verge of splitting apart over values. But we have been divided before. One hundred and forty years ago, the country did divide, and a bloody struggle ensued.

I have just read a memoir by a soldier from Bulloch County who fought in the Army of Northern Virginia. He wrote it about thirty years after the end of the war. He is a Christian and here is why he wrote the book: "I am proud, in my old days, to see the nation as well united as it is, and I want to live to see every possible stain and ill-feeling removed, and I would love to see all old soldiers, Union and Confederate, labor to this end." This man, George Nichols, had been wounded twice, suffered many hardships, and had his brother killed in their first battle. But there is no bitterness in his book. God gave him the grace to overcome all of this.

We need that same thing for us. We need to have the same forgiving attitude toward others that Nichols had. I think he got there by applying 139:23 and 24, and 1 John 1:9. The Psalms verses read:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Those verses are for us and deal with how to repent. Having done this, we can then claim 2 Chronicles 7:14 for our country. It reads:

". . . if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

It may be that God is letting this country go down. We don't know His plan. He is infinite and we are finite. We do know that only God can bring us national healing. We can appeal to him for this, but only if we humble ourselves and have clean hearts.

I began this talk with a message from a WWI New Testament and I want to conclude it that way, also. Besides General Pershing, President Woodrow Wilson also had a message in the front of WWI pocket New Testaments. It reads:

PRESIDENT WILSON'S MESSAGE

The White House, Washington, 23 July, 1917

"The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourselves - read, not little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it. You will find it not only full of real men and women, but also of things you have wondered about and been troubled about all your life, as men have been always; and the more you read the more it will become plain to you what things are worthwhile and what are not, what things make man happy - loyalty, right dealing, speaking the truth, readiness to give everything for what they think their duty, and most of all, the wish that they may have the approval of the Christ, who gave everything for them - and the things that are guaranteed to make man unhappy - selfishness, cowardice, greed, and everything that is low and mean. When you have read the Bible you will know that it is the Word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty."

Woodrow Wilson

President Wilson points out that we must read and study the Bible in order to know what things are worthwhile and what things are not. Notice also the things that Wilson says are guaranteed to make men unhappy: "selfishness, cowardice, greed, and everything that is low and mean." That sounds like half of our country today! They are mean spirited, but think they will be happy if they get their way - but that won't make them happy. Wilson tells us what will make them happy: "loyalty, right dealing, speaking the truth, readiness to give everything for what they think their duty, and most of all, the wish that they may have the approval of Christ, Who gave everything for them." That is what we should be doing: reading and studying the Bible and doing what Jesus would do. What President Wilson didn't mention was prayer. This goes back to our Scripture verse - praying to God to heal our land. After this sermon please join me in prayer where we confess our sins and ask God to heal our land.

As individuals and as a church, we have a lot to be thankful for. We have burned the mortgage; we are sponsoring several missionaries; we have seen much answered prayer, and received many blessings. We truly have much to thank God for at this time of national Thanksgiving.

Let us pray. Lord, this is Your house, and we are Your people. We confess that we have sinned, each in his own way, and that we have been complacent in letting this spiritual sickness

come upon our land. We pray for Kathy Harris, and those attacking her, and ask that You bring this nation back to You, and that You heal our land. We ask this in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

APPENDIX I

GENERAL PERSHING'S MESSAGE

To the American Soldier Aroused against a nation waging war in violation of all Christian

principles. Our people are fighting in the cause of Liberty.

Hardships will be your lot, but trust in God will give you comfort; temptation will befall you, but the teachings of our Savior will give you strength.

Let your valor as a soldier and your conduct as a man be an inspiration to your comrades and an honor to your country.

Pershing

Aug. 10, '17 Comdg.

APPENDIX II

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

January 25, 1941

To the Armed Forces:

As Commander-in-Chief I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States. Throughout the centuries men of many faiths and diverse origins have found in the Sacred Book words of wisdom, counsel and inspiration. It is a fountain of strength and now, as always, an aid in attaining the highest aspirations of the human soul.

Very sincerely yours,

Franklin D. Roosevelt

APPENDIX III

D-DAY PRAYER

by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

from the White House - June 6, 1944

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far. And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard, for the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest - until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, they heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home - fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters and brothers of brave men overseas - whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them - help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too - strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hear be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that my come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment - let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace - a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.

Christmas - 1944 - from

F.D.R.